Taiwan parties clash over Legislative Speaker support deals

TAIPEI (TVBS News) — Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) spokesperson Justin Wu clarified on Thursday (Feb. 1), that Taiwan People's Party (TPP) chairman Ko Wen-je had called a DPP senior member in the medical sector to garner support for Huang Shan-shan for the Legislative Speaker role, vowing to back the DPP's Deputy Speaker candidate unconditionally.

This statement was in response to the TPP's earlier Facebook post claiming the DPP planned to support TPP legislator Huang Shan-shan's bid for Legislative Yuan Speaker in exchange for supporting DPP legislator Tsai Chi-chang as Deputy Speaker.

The TPP pointed out on Facebook that they never exchange favors with the "New Tide" faction for their interest and stated that the DPP members, through various channels, sought to support Huang Shan-shan in exchange for the TPP's support for Tsai Chi-chang, a proposal Ko Wen-je "explicitly rejected."

Wu revealed via Facebook that Ko Wen-je had proactively called on a senior DPP member on Wednesday evening (Jan. 31), expressing his hope that the DPP would support Huang Shan-shan as Speaker and that the Deputy Speaker could unconditionally support the DPP's candidate.

Wu stressed that the DPP group could only accept supporting You Si-kun for Legislative Yuan Speaker, and the deputy speaker was open to TPP's recommendation, rejecting Ko's proposal.